Van Wyk guides Dolphins to #MODC semis

Dolphins opener Morné van Wyk dropped anchor to take his team to victory against the Lions. Photo: Gavin Barker/BackpagePix

Three wickets apiece by Senuran Muthusamy and Prenelan Subrayen, followed by a Morné van Wyk half-century, helped the Dolphins keep alive their hopes of a Momentum One-Day home semi-final with a bonus point victory over the Highveld Lions in Durban on Wednesday.

The hosts won comfortably with 36 balls to spare after initially shooting out the visitors for 194, before chasing down their target and eliminating the men from Gauteng from the competition in the process.

The Dolphins will now need to win their final league-phase encounter against the Titans on Friday and hope the Cape Cobras lose to the Warriors in order to secure a home semi-final.

The men from KwaZulu-Natal lost the toss at the start and had to bowl first, but they turned in an excellent effort with the ball to dismiss the Lions in 46.1 overs, thanks in the main to Muthusamy (3/30) and Subrayen (3/37) at Kingsmead.

But a collapse of seven for 63 left the Lions in trouble at the halfway stage.

There was an early wicket for the visitors when Aya Myoli removed Sarel Erwee (12), but from there, Van Wyk dropped anchor with an unbeaten 83 (134 balls, 8x4).

Vaughn van Jaarsveld (41) and Khaya Zondo (46 not out) also played good cameos in support of Van Wyk – the latter sharing an unbroken 88-run stand at the end to get the Dolphins to victory with six overs to spare.